Program aims to bring awareness to brain injury patients

STAFF REPORTS / Daily News

Thursday

Mar 28, 2013 at 12:01 AMMar 28, 2013 at 7:21 AM

When Tracy Porter’s 16-year-old son suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) after a car crash in Jacksonville, Fla. nine years ago, she realized what would be necessary for other families arriving at the hospital facing the same fear with their loved ones.

When Tracy Porter’s 16-year-old son suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) after a car crash in Jacksonville, Fla. nine years ago, she realized what would be necessary for other families arriving at the hospital facing the same fear with their loved ones.

For the past eight years, Porter has pioneered brain injury awareness throughout the state of Florida through her 501c3 organization Mothers For TBI Hope, Inc. through the Totes of Comfort & Hope Program.

Thanks to Porter’s program, within 24 hours after a family arrives at the hospital they receive a reusable tote bag filled with personal toiletries, comfort items, useful tools, statewide resources, information about brain injury hospitalization and rehabilitation, along with a toll free number direct to her for hope and encouragement and to connect with others who have experienced the same crisis with a loved one.

Porter’s organization provides approximately 1,200 totes per year through 26 Florida trauma centers, including three centers in the Panhandle. To promote Porter’s efforts, the University of West Florida Health Communication class has created a PSA.

Click here for video >>

“The overall perception of patient care is elevated when the family members are provided for during such an emotionally difficult experience,” Porter said. “The value the tote bag has for the patient, family, and hospital far outweighs the cost to deliver this one-of-a-kind compassionate and comprehensive program.”

Currently, 210,000 Floridians are living with a brain injury and 92,000 Floridians experience brain injury each year, according to the Brain Injury Association of Florida. March is National Brain Injury Awareness month.

A $20 donation covers the costs of providing a tote bag to a family. For more information and to donate, visit www.800tbihope.org.

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